


Star Wars Episode XI: The New Order

by unholyhallelujah



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Fix-It, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, Kylo Ren Redemption, Movie: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Not Canon Compliant - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22317814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unholyhallelujah/pseuds/unholyhallelujah
Summary: The galaxy mourns. General Leia Organa has become one with the Force, leaving the REBELLION scattered and broken. Poe Dameron and the remaining Rebels attempt to rally a disparate galaxy together in order to defeat the terrifying FIRST ORDER.Meanwhile, Rey and Finn embark on a dangerous mission that may hold the key to defeating Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and his Knights of Ren.But Kylo Ren is determined to put an end to the Rebellion and the Jedi, once and for all._________________________________________________________________________________________________Let us all collectively ignore TROS. This is how I imagine Episode IX should have went down if the characters had actual arcs.
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Prologue

Poe Dameron did not see the stars that night.

He was hunched over in the command center, going over the data recovered from their spies’ last reconnaissance mission. He rubbed his face and sighed. Poe has not slept lately. Much of the General’s duties had fallen onto him recently. The newly promoted colonel had noticed a change about Leia Organa but decided against asking her about it. It had been small things at first, the way her mind seems to drift away from meetings, or how her brows would suddenly furrow in concentration. She started having weak spells as well. Poe could attribute it her old age. After all, that woman had been fighting so hard for so long.

But Poe cannot think of that now. General Organa had trusted him to lead.

“ _Follow him_ ,” she said in Crait.

Poe shook his head and he looked at the datapad. Their spies reported that the First Order was raiding old Jedi temples. Based on what Rey has told him, this is no surprise. While Kylo Ren seemed to have no interest for the Sith, he had no love for the Jedi either. Poe surmised that all Ren wanted was any power it could give him. The colonel would have to raise this point with Rey and Leia later. While he knew little of the Force, he knew he ought to trust Leia and Rey when it comes to these matters.

He scrolled through the report. Increased First Order Presence in Coruscant, Corellia, and Tython. All core planets. The First Order was becoming bolder. Another point caught his eye.

Rumors were circulating in Corellia that the First Order was looking for people who could “move things with their minds” or “see into other people’s thoughts” in the outer rims. Poe had to read it again.

“Why are they looking for Force-sensitives?” he muttered.

“Colonel!”

Poe looked up and saw Kaydel Ko Connix standing by the doorway, eyes brimming with tears. There was a horrible knot in his stomach. It was a familiar ache. He did not need to be told.

Poe Dameron ran.

* * *

Finn and Rose did not see the stars that night.

Rose was working beneath the open belly of an X-Wing that has seen better days. While their numbers have been slowly and steadily increased in the past year, the Rebellion needed to save whatever supplies, ships and weaponry they have left. While they survived the Battle of Crait, they also lost, along with whatever faith all the other planets and systems had in Leia Organa’s Resistence. They have no armies rallying behind them, just groups of people who still have hope. Rose had thrown herself in all the mechanical projects, making sure everything that can be used will be used.

"This ship is going to take a few more days of repair. Any chance Rey can drop by? Use the Force to fix this?" Rose jested, eyes still fully trained on the engine in front of her.

"That's not how the Force works," replied Finn. 

Finn was trying to help her out as much as he can, he really was. He handed her the tools she needed, or what he thought Rose needed. Every time he handed her a wrong tool, Finn was greeted with a groan or a huff. It took him back to when he had first met Rey. He did not know his place then. He had a better idea now, thanks to Rose, Poe and Rey. While the Rebellion had no shortage of duties and obligations, and Finn had risen to every opportunity he can, he had no clear niche. He was no engineer like Rose, who kept their equipment and vessels running, he was no leader like Poe, who kept whatever remained of the Rebellion together, and he was definitely nothing like Rey, who carried a legacy he could not even grasp.

He sighed.

Finn was in the midst of handing Rose his best guess as to what tool she needed at the moment when he felt _it_. He did not know what it was.

But it tugged at his chest and he his eyes begin to water.

“Finn?” Rose called. She stopped and rolled out from beneath the ship.

“We need to go,” he whispered, taking her hand.

Rose did not argue as they broke into a run.

* * *

Rey did not see the stars that night. 

  
She had been deep in her training, deep in the forests of Ajan Kloss. With her eyes closed, Rey felt the ebb and flow of the Force guiding her movement. Her feet glide smoothly over the rough terrain, knowing where to take her, the blade, lowly humming with each swing. 

  
Tales of the last Jedi have spread across the galaxy, all to varying degrees of truth and myth. Luke Skywalker’s monumental sacrifice inspired a wave of new Rebels to join the cause. He had saved the Rebellion in more than one way that day. With the lure of another powerful Jedi on the rise, the Rebellion might actually stand a chance now. Leia urged her to continue training, much to Poe’s disdain. The Commander believed that she should be on the field with them. Rey had been divided, but it was Finn who convinced her.   
“The galaxy needs hope,” Finn said. There had been something indecipherable about him when he said it. 

  
In the rare times where he would be free, Finn would watch her train, even going so far as to spar with her. Rose, whom Rey met a little bit after she recovered from her injuries in Crait, had built Rey a seeker droid for her to practice with. Rey used a training lightsaber recovered from Luke’s old academy. The General herself handed it to her with a rueful smile.

In Rey’s moment alone in the forest, she felt everything around her: from the sprawling tree roots beneath her feet to the bustle of the Rebels back in their base. She felt them as if they are all an extension of her own self. They all come to her in waves and patterns and she senses them all. 

  
Except for one she desperately tries to shun. 

In her mind, there is a single thread, a thread she has not dared touch since the Battle of Crait, save for her futile attempts to severe it. Rey ignores it now, as she has ignored all of the times he has tugged the thread. 

  
She must find her center. 

The pale, yellow blade casts a slight glow across Rey’s face, painting an image of serenity. 

She feels everything through the Force. 

And then she feels _her_.

Rey’s eyes open wide in horror and disbelief. 

“Leia…”

Rey had first truly believed in the Force when she had crossed sabers with Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base and began learning about it in Ahch-To. Ever since it awoke inside of Rey, the Force has never left her. 

  
Now, as grief begins ascending through the thread, adding multitudes to her own, she wishes it would; because she refuses it to be true. 

She extinguishes the saber and runs back to base. 

* * *

Had anyone in Ajan Kloss looked up at the stars that night, they would have seen one burn brighter than any other star in the night sky. 

Standing by the window of the _Finalizer_ , Kylo Ren could hardly contain himself as he stared at the star. He could not stop the tears, any more than he could have stopped her last breath. Somewhere in his despair, he berated himself. He could not mourn. Kylo Ren did not have the right to. 

_She was nothing. She should be._

And yet he wanted to burn the skies and tear the galaxy into shreds. 

He ignited his saber and screamed. 

* * *

Armitage Hux waited. He already saw the reports. While it was of little value to him, considering the decrepit state the Rebellion was in, he was still jubilant. 

He wanted to _hear_ him. 

Kylo Ren's pained howls finally echoed throughout the ship, followed by crashes of what Hux could only assume as ruined equipment and perhaps some unlucky stormtrooper. 

The general smiled. 


	2. Chapter 2

A solemn crowd had already formed around her. Commander D'Acy had already draped a white sheet over her. According to her, Leia had excused herself from their conference. Poe could imagine that it was one of those times where her mind began to wander again. She retreated to her room and was found by D’Acy.

Poe kneeled by her side, shaking, and unable to speak. Connix and D’Acy stood by, holding each other for support. He felt a hand press on his shoulder; Poe looked up to see Finn’s tear-stained face, and Rose not far behind. He found himself in Finn’s embrace and the tears he had been suppressing finally fell as he choked into Finn’s ears.

“Sh-she’s gone…” Poe finally said out loud unwilling to believe it.

Finn held him tighter, having no words.

Rey saw everything unfold slowly, as if she was stuck underwater.

She gently made her way through the crowd. Rose swept her into an embrace. It was not long before Finn and Poe held them both as well.

A pained yell broke out of the room. Chewbacca made his way to the front easily. The Wookie wailed upon seeing Leia. He had lost too much already. He could suddenly feel his age as he cried for one of his oldest friends. 

“My princess…” remarked C3P0 sadly from the sides. R2-D2 whirred softly at his side as BB-8’s head hung low.

Rey looked at all of them, and slowly tearing herself away from her friends, she went to Leia’s side. Her knees gave out because it was suddenly too real. They said there seemed to have been no foul play. They do not need to convince her. Rey would have sensed if Leia had been in danger, or if someone had infiltrated the base to assassinate her. Leia Organa had simply went to her room and rested.

She never said for how long.

Rey tried to keep up a brave face. She tried not to let her tears fall. It was then that Rey felt a familiar pull. It was not violent or impatient. His hold on the thread was gentle, and almost hesitant, like a child asking for permission.

She let the Force bring him to her. 

Across Rey, on Leia’s right, the terrifying man that the galaxy knew as Kylo Ren kneeled. In that moment, Rey only saw the lost boy, Ben Solo. It felt like an eternity before his eyes drifted from his mother to Rey. There must have been a thousand emotions flashing behind them; and he looked at her as if only she could understand what he wanted to say with them.

There were too many things left unsaid between them. No matter how much the Force pushed them together, they never truly understood one another.

She touched the thread ever so lightly, and she felt it, the core that all these shattered pieces of him traced back to.

Rey felt his _pain_. It branched into so many things. Rage, sorrow, regret and things in between and beyond that have no names yet.

She had no doubt that he felt something similar with her. He felt it too.

Before he could speak, someone’s hand rested on her shoulder. She looked up to see Finn looking at her sadly.

“We need to head to the command room,” he whispered gently.

Rey let out a weighted breath. Joining the Rebellion had meant that the fight never stopped, no matter how tremendous the loss was.

While it was true that they needed to leave for the assembly, something else made Finn want to pull Rey away Leia. He could not pinpoint it, but he felt a familiar and dangerous presence he did not want to encounter again, and definitely not something he wanted his friend to be near to at this vulnerable time.

Finn and Rey made their way through the corridors along with everyone else, as announcements over the comms repeated instructions for everyone to head to the emergency meeting.

The command center was full of old technology. Ajan Kloss, after all, was an old holdout location for Alderaan. Poe sometimes wondered what Alderaan was like. The planet was destroyed a few years before he was born and what he knew about it only came from Leia. Another thing for certain was that they definitely knew how to create leaders. Poe swallowed. Whatever grief he has now would have to wait. 

Kaydel, D’Acy, and Poe have situated themselves before the growing crowd. 

Finn and Rey joined Rose at the front.

“It is a sad day today,” D’Acy began, voice laden with weight. The room, which was already quiet, fell into a deathly hush. She explained what happened, to the nest that she could. No one can truly understand how a woman in perfect health yesterday has died but everyone seems to understand that the general has experienced enough to last her several lifetimes. The medical droids and doctors offered no explanation other than her heart simply stopping.

“Leia would not want us to stop the fight. If anything, she would want us to fight harder. We carry her legacy, and the ones that have fallen before us.”

Rey’s mind inadvertently found its way to an old, cynical man on his lonely island.

Finn recalled a scruffy smuggler who did his best.

Poe thought of a woman who flew among the stars.

Rose remembered a girl who destroyed a Dreadnought. 

Joining them now was a woman who led revolutions. A woman who birthed one son but was a mother to all. 

“The chain of command dictates the next in line to lead,” D’Acy continued.

Finn’s eyes drifted to Poe, who swallowed.

“General Poe Dameron.” She stepped aside to allow Poe to take the center.

Poe looked at everyone’s expectant faces.

He was known by many as the man that saved the Rebellion from destruction during the Battle of Crait. He was also the best pilot in the business (if the business had been war).

In that moment, he was just a man who knew little of what was to come.

The words came out of him slowly. “Leia had been fighting for her whole life. It seems as if all of us were born into battles we never started,” Poe took a breath. Everyone was looking to him. “But we continue to fight, in the hopes of ending it. We fight so that no one else has to. We will finish this war and restore peace to the Galaxy again. Those who have lain down their lives will not have done so in vain.”

There were nods and whispers around the room. 

“The First Order is on the move,” he began, remembering the details of the report. “They’re beginning to entrench themselves deeper and deeper into larger core planets. We must begin rallying other planets to our cause.”

When they sent out a desperate signal during the Battle of Crait, it fell on deaf ears.

“We do this by letting everybody know that this Rebellion is still fighting until the First Order falls and the galaxy is free,” he concluded.

The room broke into a low applause. While the speech had been well-received, the circumstances that required still tugged on everyone.

“Rey,” Poe called out as people began to disperse.

Rey, Finn and Rose all looked at their General.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he looked at all three of them. “All of you.”

Poe led them to a smaller conference room away from the crowd. 

The door shut behind them and Poe turned to them. 

"There are reports of First Order kidnapping people in the Middle and Outer Rims," Poe said flatly. 

"Well unfortunately that's a normal practice," Finn said, noticing the change in Poe's demeanor. The sudden rigidity was off putting but Finn could only attribute it to grief. "They train them to become stormtroopers." He had been so young that he could not even recall the face of his parents, or if he had any siblings. The Resistance already send as many people as they can to rescue those people, mostly children. They would raid the cargo vessels and carry everyone they could to safety. 

But with their numbers, there was only so much they could do. 

Rey winced. It was one thing to be abandoned, and another thing to be ripped from the arms of your family. She did not know what as worse, only that they needed to stop it from happening to anyone else. 

"The thing about this one is that they're looking for Force Sensitive people."

"What?" It barely came out as a whisper. "Why?" she asked. Something about it made her skin crawl. She had been training for well over a year and yet she rarely wondered how many others are there. Rey imagined all the things that the First Order could be doing to them and she found none of them pleasant. 

Poe shrugged. "That's what I need for you to figure out. Our best guess is that they either want to turn them into whatever Kylo Ren is or kill them. Either way, it isn't pretty and I have a bad feeling about this. The latest intel report says they might hit Pasaana next." 

"I'm coming with her," Finn said immediately. 

Poe nodded and turned to Rose.

"Rose, you're coming with me to Coruscant." 

"What do we need to do there?" she asked. 

Poe smirked. "There's a redhead I wanna visit." 

* * *

While they were gearing up to leave, in the Falcon, Rey looked at the training saber in her hand. Everyone was too much in a rush to notice her sneak into the cabins. An idea brew in her head, an idea she got from reading the Sacred Texts.

The fight is ending soon, she could feel it. But she could not end it right with this saber. 

She dug up the broken Skywalker lightsaber, hidden beneath the texts she took from Ahch-To. The crystal at its core had split completely in half. They were still alive, almost as if calling to her. 

She settled her staff and the two halves of the crystal on the floor.

Rey took a deep breath and allowed the Force to guide her. 

_Be with me_.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic! I had... emotions.... after TROS. So much emotions that I decided to write an entire fic as to how I envisioned Episode IX. Feedback is appreciated! (Also this is unbeta'd so be kind)
> 
> **edited to add more povs


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